The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may soon see change in its top office as some sections of the government and other ruling establishments were not happy with the performance of incumbent chairman Ejaz Butt.

Reliable sources in the government circle have said that President Asif Ali Zardari,who is the chief patron of PCB,has been advised to replace Butt with a new chairman to bring about improvement in Pakistan cricket.

“The word from the Presidency is that the President himself is not satisfied with the performance of Ejaz Butt,” the source said.

Some controversial appointments and sackings by Butt,which were not the impartial ones,had also been brought to the notice of the President. The decisions include appointment of a 74-year-old,who was removed by the previous set-up,on an important position in the PCB,the source said.

He said President Zardari would soon be looking at the prospective candidates to can take over as the PCB Chairman with Butt’s tenure now appears to be heading for an abrupt ending.

“To make matters worse the Federal Sports Minister,Pir Aftab Shah Jillani and Farooq Naek,the Senate Chairman and other influential figures have also made it clear that Butt must go,” one source disclosed.

He said number of factors had gone against Butt who came into power last year despite not being a front runner for the post after the resignation of Nasim Ashraf.

“The President has conveyed to the influential figures of the ruling party who backed and supported the appointment of Butt as PCB Chairman that their choice was not a good one,” the source said.

He said the President has been conveyed that Butt had failed to show the temperament and patience to deal with the crisis situations,a feeling shared by the federal sports minister.

“The way Butt handled the situation after the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore this month has left the ruling party unhappy. Even the sports minister drew attention of President Zardari that the PCB chief didn’t even bother to address a press conference to clear the air on the day after the tragedy occurred,” the source said.

He said President Zardari had also been conveyed about how Butt had flatly refused to bring back former Test captain Javed Miandad into the PCB despite the requests of the federal sports minister and other important personalities.

Miandad had resigned as the Director General of Cricket in February,accusing Butt of backing out of an earlier understanding over the powers to be designated to him.

To complicate matters,Butt engaged himself in a war of words with the Senate standing committee on sports and also with the sports ministry accusing them of interfering in cricket affairs without having any jurisdiction to do this.

“The impression of Butt emerging now in the President’s secretariat is that he does not have the temperament,the diplomacy or patience to handle cricket matters effectively. The feeling is also that since he took over there has been no positive development forthcoming from the board,” the source said.